Little African penguins need our support
There’s sad news about African Penguins.
These little penguins (about 60cm in height) have been uplisted to Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List. They are now at SEVERE risk of extinction.
Once, millions of African Penguins lived on the coasts of South Africa and Namibia.
Tragically, 97% of the African Penguin population has gone. In the 1800s, Saving the Penguins Nest say there were over 4 million African penguins.
Penguins International estimate there are just 15,000 breeding pairs left. About 32,000 are left in the wild – around 1% of the original population. The video below from 2020 says there are about 50,000 left.
BirdLife South Africa estimate that they could vanish from the wild altogether in less than 4,000 days. It is trying to establish a penguin colony where the penguins will be safe from predators on the south coast mainland.
What have we done? Why have the numbers of African penguins reduced so drastically?
There’s been the destruction of nesting sites for penguin poop, egg collecting, oil spills, global climate change, and competition for food resources with commercial fishing. The quality of habitat has been devastated, as guano has been removed by people for their own use.
A lack of suitable food is the biggest thing driving this loss and it’s affecting other birds as well, such as gannets. Sardine and anchovy are their preferred food and penguin breed better when the food around their colony is considerably improved if the penguins have the food they need.
We have removed their guano nests, which keep penguins safe from predators and from the sun. They can raise their chicks in these nests safely.
African Penguins matter
Penguins are really dedicated parents and they do whatever they can to make sure their chicks grow up to survive and thrive. They need our help to help them do just that and help us leave a healthy legacy to everyone coming after us.
Urgent conservation efforts are needed.
They are vital to sustain marine food chains and coastal ecosystems. Lively, sociable and easily recognised, their problem is their food supply and other threats at sea. Zones where fishing is prohibited have been set up to help restore fish populations – but leading ornithologists say this isn’t enough. As an indicator species, African penguins tell us a lot about the health of the ocean.
What can we do to put this right?
People from a number of organisations are coming together to pool their knowledge and skills to help these little penguins.
AZA’s Safe Program is fostering collaboration on several projects. One of these involves giving parent penguins a safe place to raise their young. And they’ve come up with the ideal artificial nest!
The Dyer Island Conservation Trust, the Pan African Association of Zoos and Aquaria, and vitally, local heroes who just want to help these beautiful penguins and who have been involved in the African Penguin Nest Project. Artificial nests have been carefully designed and made, coming as close to nature as is possible, and these have been placed on Bird Island. And as the video showed, the penguins moved in within minutes! A freshly laid egg was laid when the team went back to check the morning after the artificial nests had been installed on Bird Island!
A hundred nests were created and placed on the island, and of course more are needed. This is just a start but find out more and see if you can help here.
Saving Penguins say there are three ways to help:
- Sponsor African penguin nests
- Buy sustainable seafood. And in the UK, the Marine Conservation Society’s Good Fish Guide will help you make sustainable fish choices (you can add this to your phone) What we consume and how much we consume really matters for the ecosystem. We need to make choices which look after earth for all our sakes. We need to read food labels and understand what we are eating. Hold retailers and policy makers to account.
- Reduce plastic and petroleum use
WWF South Africa says there needs to be an ecosystem approach to fisheries management and not just one species approach. The African penguin could be a great ambassador for this. We need to show that nature and people are one thing – one of the biggest challenges conservation faces to my mind is the lost connection between people and nature which means the rest of us are going to have to work harder to help put that back
It's very difficult to care for something if you don’t love it or appreciate it.
#SavetheAfricanPenguin
BirdLife partner BirdLife South Africa and SANCCOB and the ocean conservation charity Blue Marine, are urgng the South African government and the international community to act to save the African Penguin.
BirdLife South Africa and SANCCOB are taking legal action which is aiming to increase the protection for the African Penguin. They have filed a case against the South African Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment.
Their goal is to challenge the Minister’s current island closures to purse-seine fishing, which they say are “biologically meaningless” and don't protect the penguins.
The legal action aims "to replace the existing no-fishing zones with re-configured areas that better overlap with the penguins’ key feeding grounds, while still minimising the impact on the fishing industry".
The zones would cover 6 major penguin colonies and they would help to reduce competition for food. It would allow fish stocks to recover - and that would increase the penguins' chances of survival.
Please give your support and call on the South African government to take urgent action to protect one of the world’s most endangered penguin species and ensure the health of our oceans for future generations.
Comments